From a house-studio to a studio-museum

Although it has been successively refurbished, this studio-museum has nevertheless remained faithful to its original double identity as a place for living and creating, a fact highly appreciated by visitors who are attracted by the atmosphere it radiates. It is one of the rare sculptors’ studios - along with that of Antoine Bourdelle – which has managed to be preserved in Paris, bearing witness to the Montparnasse of artists.

It is dedicated to the memory and the work of Ossip Zadkine (1890-1967), a sculptor of Russian origin, who lived and worked in the house and its studios, between 1928 and 1967. This place of conservation, opened in 1982, was created through the bequest of Valentine Prax, the sculptor's widow and herself a painter, to the City of Paris, which was named as the universal legatee of her possessions.

On the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary, having now become accessible to all after a year of works, the museum has reopened its doors to feature a brand-new identity, with a new reception area and a more comprehensive presentation of its collections, designed to represent the style of a studio as closely as possible.

In the house and the studios where Zadkine and his wife lived and worked for almost fifty years, a new exhibition route awaits the visitor, winding around the garden, a haven of peace and quiet in this place of memory and charm. In the bare spaces restored to their original dimensions, under the light of glass roofs which brings the works to life as the seasons go by, wood, stones and clay create a dialogue within the studio.